Trust for America's Health Initiatives

Environmental Health

Environmental Health

The World Health Organization estimates that 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes.

Americans deserve healthy and safe places to live, work, and play. TFAH works to advance polices and programs to protect air, water, and food; minimize chemical exposures; and provide communities with healthier environments. TFAH has helped lead efforts to create a Nationwide Health Tracking System, to better understand how the environment impacts our health by looking for patterns and trends. Health tracking could help lead to breakthroughs in finding the causes and cures of many serious diseases.

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Policy and Advocacy

For TFAH position statements and letters, congressional hearings, briefings and testimony, and additional policy and advocacy materials, click here.

Press Releases

April 12, 2013
TFAH’s Statement on the Reallocation of Portions of the Prevention and Public Health Fund

March 20, 2013
On Third Anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, TFAH Launches Story Bank of Prevention Success Stories from Around the Country

March 4, 2013
Trust for America’s Health Statement on the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act

January 29, 2013
New Report Provides High-Impact Recommendations to Improve Prevention Policies in America

December 19, 2012
TFAH Statement on the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2012—Urges Senate Passage by Year’s End

More press releases

Resources

Selected items from TFAH's Resource Library:

Community Transformation Grants (CTGs): Promoting Proven Strategies to Fight Chronic Diseases
Community Transformation Grants, one major initiative funded under the Prevention and Public Health Fund, are targeted at addressing the leading causes of chronic diseases to improve the health of Americans and reduce health care costs over the long term. The investments being made are critical to make sure people can take personal responsibility for their health care, outside of the doctor’s office, and allow individual communities to address their greatest health needs. CTGs will benefit more than one in three Americans, approximately 145 million people.

Half of Americans Could Be Obese By 2030… Or We Could Invest In The Prevention Fund
Half of Americans could be obese By 2030...or we could invest in the Prevention Fund. An analysis conducted by the National Heart Forum, based on a peer-reviewed model published last year in The Lancet, estimates that that 50 percent of Americans are on track to be obese in the next 20 years.1 Obesity could even top 60 percent in 13 states. Right now, 36 percent of Americans are obese.

TFAH Backgrounder on Climate Change and Public Health
How Can We Prevent & Prepare for Health Issues in a Changing Climate? Climate change is expected to affect the health of all Americans. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the environment changes, people will be at a higher risk for a range of threats to our health. These effects may include increased heat-related deaths and sickness; risks of respiratory infections, aggravation of asthma, increased allergens, and premature death; an increase in the number of people at risk from disease and injury related to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires; mental health impacts; water shortages and malnutrition; and increased incidence of vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases.

The National Centers for Environmental Health: National Biomonitoring Program
For more than 30 years, the Environmental Health Laboratory of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) has been performing biomonitoring measurements--direct measurements of people's exposure to toxic substances in the environment. By analyzing blood, urine and tissues, scientists can now measure actual levels of more than 450 chemicals and nutritional indicators in people's bodies.

The Prevention and Public Health Fund: For A Healthier America
Prevention saves lives, reduces health care costs, and makes the country a healthier, more productive place. More than half of Americans live with at least one serious preventable health condition, like diabetes or heart disease, which forces taxpayers to spend billions of dollars a year on health care. And, today’s children are in danger of becoming the first generation in American history to live shorter, less healthy lives than their parents. The Prevention and Public Health Fund enables communities around the country to invest in proven strategies to improve health. That’s why the Fund has the support of more than 760 national, state and local organizations.

More resources